Dynamic scan quality control management for print jobs

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for reviewing printed jobs. One embodiment is a system that includes a print review device. The print review device includes a memory that stores data which indicates whether regions along a width of print media marked by a printer are flagged as bypassable, and a controller configured to determine printhead conditions along the width of the print media, associate each printhead condition with a corresponding region, and to generate a report with notifications of printhead conditions within each region that has not been flagged, while suppressing notifications of printhead conditions within regions that have been flagged.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following disclosure relates to the field of printing, and inparticular, to analysis of printed output.

BACKGROUND

Entities with substantial printing demands typically use a productionprinter. A production printer is a high-speed printer used for volumeprinting, such as a continuous-forms printer that prints on a web ofprint media stored on a large roll. A production printer typicallyincludes a localized print controller that manages the overall operationof the printer, and one or more marking engines (sometimes referred toas an “imaging engine” or a “print engine”). The marking engine includesone or more arrays of printheads.

Upon receiving a print job, the print controller rasterizes logicalpages of the job (e.g., to create bitmaps representing each page of thejob), and the marking engine operates individual printheads to mark theweb based on the rasterized logical pages. Thus, the printer marksphysical pages based on the digital information of the print job.

In order to ensure that a print job has been printed at a desired levelof quality, it is not uncommon for the output of a print job to bescanned. However, for print jobs that comprise thousands of pages, it isnot feasible for a technician to manually review scans of those pages.Furthermore, a scanner may require its own maintenance and upkeep.

Thus, those who operate print shops continue to seek out enhancedsystems and methods that permit the review of print jobs to beaccomplished in an efficient and accurate manner.

SUMMARY

Embodiments described herein dynamically elect to forego inspectionand/or reporting for error conditions along specific portions of testpatterns on marked print media. This enables a print shop operator tocontinue printing incoming print jobs if the reduction in print qualitycaused by an error is not so significant as to require a re-print. Forexample, this process enables jetout conditions at a printhead to beselectively ignored if desired by a print shop operator, which providesa benefit by enabling printing to continue if the jetout is in alocation not used by a print job (e.g., near a border or margin of theprint media).

One embodiment is a system that includes a print review device. Theprint review device includes a memory that stores data which indicateswhether regions along a width of print media marked by a printer areflagged as bypassable, and a controller configured to determineprinthead conditions along the width of the print media, associate eachprinthead condition with a corresponding region, and to generate areport with notifications of printhead conditions within each regionthat has not been flagged, while suppressing notifications of printheadconditions within regions that have been flagged.

A further embodiment is a method. The method includes storing data whichindicates whether regions along a width of print media marked by aprinter are flagged as bypassable, determining printhead conditionsalong the width of the print media, associating each printhead conditionwith a corresponding region, and generating a report with notificationsof printhead conditions within each region that has not been flagged,while suppressing notifications of printhead conditions within regionsthat have been flagged.

Yet another embodiment is a non-transitory computer readable mediumembodying programmed instructions which, when executed by a processor,are operable for performing a method. The method includes storing datawhich indicates whether regions along a width of print media marked by aprinter are flagged as bypassable, determining printhead conditionsalong the width of the print media, associating each printhead conditionwith a corresponding region, and generating a report with notificationsof printhead conditions within each region that has not been flagged,while suppressing notifications of printhead conditions within regionsthat have been flagged.

Other illustrative embodiments (e.g., methods and computer-readablemedia relating to the foregoing embodiments) may be described below.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the present invention are now described, by way ofexample only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings. The samereference number represents the same element or the same type of elementon all drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a print review system in an illustrativeembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for operating a print reviewsystem to dynamically suppress detection and/or reporting of printheadconditions in an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a print shop in an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 4 depicts a marking engine applying test patterns to a web of printmedia in an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts an image of test patterns acquired by a scanner imaging aweb of print media in an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 6 depicts a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for reviewing printheadconditions in an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a processing system operable to execute a computerreadable medium embodying programmed instructions to perform desiredfunctions in an illustrative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The figures and the following description illustrate specificillustrative embodiments of the invention. It will thus be appreciatedthat those skilled in the art will be able to devise variousarrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein,embody the principles of the invention and are included within the scopeof the invention. Furthermore, any examples described herein areintended to aid in understanding the principles of the invention, andare to be construed as being without limitation to such specificallyrecited examples and conditions. As a result, the invention is notlimited to the specific embodiments or examples described below, but bythe claims and their equivalents.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a print review system 100 in anillustrative embodiment. Print review system 100 comprises any system,device, or component operable to analyze images of print media that hasbeen marked in accordance with print data in a print job. In thisembodiment, print review system 100 comprises a print review device 130that operates an image capture device 132 to generate images of printmedia marked by a printer 110, operates a controller 134 that detectsprinthead conditions based on the images of the print media, andoperates a display 136 that presents notifications of printheadconditions to a user for review via a GUI. Though shown as incorporatedin print review device 130, image capture device 132, controller 134 anddisplay 136 may be implemented as separate and coupled devices. Thus,portions of controller 134 may be implemented separately (e.g., someportions included in image capture device 132 and other components maybe implemented as separate, physically distinct components or devices)and communicatively coupled in various embodiments.

In this embodiment, print review device 130 has been enhanced toselectively bypass analysis and/or reporting of printhead conditionsalong specific widthwise regions of a web of print media that have beendetermined based upon analysis of widthwise regions of an image of theweb of print media. Each region corresponds to a widthwise portion ofthe print media occupied by at least a portion of a printhead. Thus, aregion corresponds with a specific widthwise portion of a test patternwhich itself corresponds with a portion of the width of a marking engineof the printer. Test patterns comprise marks that are applied to printmedia before, during, or after printing in order to facilitate analysisof conditions at printheads (or nozzles thereof), and hence may beincluded as part of a print job. This selective, region-based analysisand/or reporting of printhead conditions enables printing to continue iferrors (e.g., jetouts) are detected in regions that are not relevant toa print job (e.g., the margins of the page). This technique also reducesprocessing load, which facilitates detection and reporting of printheadconditions in real-time. As used herein, a printhead condition comprisesany physical, electrical, or firmware status relating to a printhead, orportion thereof, which has an impact on the ability of the printhead toeject ink onto print media in accordance with supplied instructions.Examples of printhead conditions include “jetout,” “fully operational,”“low ink,” and others. Printhead condition data may include locationinformation as well as descriptive information of the printheadcondition. Printhead conditions may be associated with a region (andvice versa) by mapping the locations (e.g., locations along a web orpixel locations in an image of the web) indicated in printhead conditiondata to the regions. Printhead condition data may also be associatedwith printheads or nozzles (or vice versa) by mapping. The mapping maybe based on the corresponding printhead location information, image ofthe printed test pattern, test pattern print instructions and printer110 configuration information (e.g., the physical/electrical arrangementand interconnections of device within the printer 110 such asprintheads, nozzles, print controller, color planes and/or etc.)

Printer 110 comprises any system, device, or component operable to markprint media (e.g., paper, card stock, paper board, corrugatedfiberboard, film, plastic, synthetic, textile, glass, composite or anyother tangible medium suitable for printing) in accordance with receivedinstructions in print data for a print job. In this embodiment, printer110 comprises a continuous-forms printer that marks a web of print mediawhich travels through the printer 110 in a web direction (also referredto as a “process direction”). Specifically, printer 110 includes a printcontroller 116 that directs the operations of one or more markingengines 112, which each comprise one or more arrays of printheads 114.The printheads 114 operate nozzles to eject ink or other markingmaterials onto the print media in accordance with instructions from theprint controller 116 as the print media advances. In furtherembodiments, printer 110 comprises a cut-sheet printer that marks sheetsor strips of print media.

Print review device 130 comprises any device capable of imaging and/orreviewing the printed output of printer 110. In this embodiment, printreview device 130 is integrated into the printer 110. In furtherembodiments, print review device 130 is integrated with or coupled to aweb of print media at a location that is downstream of the printer 110with respect to a web direction along which the web proceeds. Imagecapture device 132 comprises any suitable image capture device (e.g.,optical scanner, camera, densitometer, etc.) and captures (e.g.,acquires) images of the print media after printing. Image capture device132 may periodically acquire images of the print media via a singlecamera or an array of cameras. In embodiments where an array of camerasis used, the image capture device 132 may stitch images from cameras inthe array together, in order to generate a composite image that extendsacross a width of the print media (i.e., a direction perpendicular to aprocess direction of the web of print media).

In one embodiment, image capture device 132 scans the printmedia/acquires images periodically and/or in real-time as the printer110 continues marking the print media and the print media advances. Forexample, image capture device 132 may time acquisition of images suchthat the images depict each instance of a test pattern that isperiodically printed by the printer 110 onto the print media (e.g.,every page, every ten pages, every one hundred pages, etc.). In oneembodiment, the printer is capable of printing at a higher number ofDots Per Inch (DPI) than the scanner (e.g., twelve hundred DPI asprinted, as compared to six hundred DPI as scanned). In such anembodiment, a test pattern may be split and printed into physicallydistinct sections, wherein each section utilizes a different combinationof nozzles to print at the DPI rate supported by the scanner, enablingaccurate review and analysis. In a further embodiment, the resolution ofimages acquired by the image capture device 132 is chosen such that eachpixel in the image corresponds with a size equal to or less than that ofa droplet of ink applied by a nozzle at a printhead.

The images acquired by the image capture device 132 may be stored inmemory 133, and are analyzed by a controller 134. Controller 134comprises any system, component, or device that characterizes images ofa web of print media that has been marked by a printer 110. To performthis operation, controller 134 may compare the images to correspondingtarget data (e.g., as stored in memory 133) that represents an idealimage of print media that has been marked exactly in accordance with theinstructions for a print job. In another embodiment, controller 134operates image capture device 132 by communicating instructions orsettings to the image capture device 132. Controller 134 may beimplemented as custom circuitry, as a hardware processor executingprogrammed instructions, etc.

Based on a comparison of the images of print media to the target data,controller 134 is capable of detecting and/or reporting printheadconditions. For example, controller 134 may detect the presence ofdefects or other conditions at a printhead of the printer 110, such asjetouts (i.e., the condition of failing to apply ink to the printmedia), in accordance with the techniques described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/712,985 filed on Dec. 12, 2019, entitled“ENHANCED PRINT DEFECT DETECTION,” and herein incorporated by reference.In one embodiment, controller 134 additionally receives notificationsfrom a controller of the printer 110, such as notifications thatfirmware updates are available. In one embodiment, controller 134further categorizes printhead conditions that have been detected. Forexample, controller 134 may assign notifications to types/categoriescomprising informational notifications, warning notifications, and errornotifications.

Controller 134 generates a GUI that notifies a print shop operator ofprinthead conditions, and directs display 136 to present the GUI to auser. Display 136 comprises any suitable device for visually displayingdigital information, and may comprise a monitor, projector, touchscreen,etc. In this embodiment, controller 134 has been beneficially enhancedto selectively bypass detection and/or reporting of printheadconditions, on a region-by-region basis.

The particular arrangement, number, and configuration of componentsdescribed herein is illustrative and non-limiting. Illustrative detailsof the operation of print review system 100 will be discussed withregard to FIG. 2. Assume, for this embodiment, that a printer 110 hasreceived print data for a print job (e.g., Portable Document Format(PDF) data accompanied by a Job Definition Format (JDF) job ticket), andhas initiated printing of the print job onto a web of print media. Thisincludes the printer 110 printing test patterns (e.g., a series ofstripes or other patterns marked with ink from the printheads 114) ontothe print media. As the print media advances from the printer 110, itpasses downstream into view of image capture device 132.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method 200 for dynamicallysuppressing detection and/or reporting of printhead conditions inspecific regions of print media in an illustrative embodiment. The stepsof method 200 are described with reference to print review system 100 ofFIG. 1, but those skilled in the art will appreciate that method 200 maybe performed in other systems. The steps of the flowcharts describedherein are not all inclusive and may include other steps not shown. Thesteps described herein may also be performed in an alternative order.

In this embodiment, the method is subdivided into initialization andoperation phases. Steps 202-210 describe illustrative steps of aninitialization phase. However, other initialization techniques may beutilized as desired. At the end of the initialization phase, memory 133includes data indicating which regions of the print media are bypassablefor purposes of determining or reporting printhead conditions. Thus,when the operation phase initiates, print review device 130 is capableof dynamically performing suppression of printhead condition detectionand/or reporting in the bypassable regions.

In this embodiment, the initialization phase includes step 202, in whichimage capture device 132 performs an initialization scan of print mediamarked by the printer 110. The initialization scan may be performedafter printer 110 has been turned on, after printer 110 has been set upin a new configuration, at the start of a new print job, in response toa manual command, or based on other criteria. During the initializationscan, image capture device 132 proceeds to generate images of the printmedia, such as images of a test pattern at the print media. The imagesmay comprise static images (e.g., digital images in a format such asJoint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Graphics Interchange Format(GIF), Portable Network Graphics (PNG), etc.), frames of video footage,or other content. The images are acquired at a resolution that enables aquality of marked print media to accurately analyzed. For example, theimages may be acquired at a resolution that equals the print quality ofthe current job (e.g., six hundred Dots Per Inch (DPI), twelve hundredDPI, etc.), or at a resolution such that at least one pixel exists torepresent output from each nozzle at printheads of the printer 110.

The memory 133 of the print review device 130 stores the images of theprint media, and these images are reviewed by controller 134. In oneembodiment, the controller 134 is integrated into the print reviewdevice 130 and receives the images directly from the image capturedevice 132, while in further embodiments the controller 134 isimplemented remotely (e.g., at a print server that manages the printshop) and receives the images via a network or file system.

In step 204, the controller 134 (or other component) detects printheadconditions at the printer 110 by comparing the initialization scan totarget data stored in memory 133. In one embodiment, this operationcomprises reviewing test patterns depicted in the images, and comparingthe test patterns to target data. If the test patterns do not match thetarget data at specific locations along a width of the print media, thismay be indicative of a printhead condition in the form of a defect at aprinthead or nozzle. Further analysis may be performed in accordancewith the techniques discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/712,985 in order to identify defects related to printing. Each defectmay be indicative of a specific printhead condition. In anotherembodiment, Step 204 may instead be performed by reading data stored inmemory 133 indicating printhead conditions detected by another device orcomponent.

In step 206, the controller 134 associates each printhead condition witha region along a width of the print media occupied by a correspondingprinthead. Thus, a printhead condition detected within a region occupiedby a first printhead is associated with the region of the firstprinthead. In further embodiments, controller 134 operates on a granularbasis, such that printhead conditions pertaining to specific nozzlesare, in addition to being associated with the region of a correspondingprinthead 114, are also associated with a specific widthwise locationwithin the region.

In step 208, the controller 134 selectively flags one or more of theregions as bypassable based on the printhead conditions at the regions.In one embodiment, this comprises automatically generating a reportindicating the type of printhead condition within each region, andawaiting manual input indicating that the region is bypassable. This maybe beneficial when a print job does not include printable content in aregion that has an undesirable printhead condition. It may also bebeneficial if undesirable printhead conditions are found within regionsthat will be cut from the print job before delivery to a customer. Infurther embodiments, the controller 134 automatically flags regions asbypassable based on detected printhead conditions. In a furtherembodiment, a test pattern referred to as an initialization inspectionpattern is utilized to evaluate each nozzle independently and determineif any nozzles become unrecoverable. This information is then related totest patterns during printing to dynamically determine which regions tobypass.

In one embodiment, the data that flags the regions as bypassable isprovided to a print controller of the printer 110. In such anembodiment, the printer 110 foregoes global error handling settings(e.g., stopping the printer, transmitting a warning message, and/orinitiating recovery actions, etc.) in regions that are flagged asbypassable. Thus, detection of a printhead condition that would normallyhalt printing does not halt printing, if the printhead condition is in aregion flagged as bypassable.

Flagging regions as bypassable results in a notable technical benefitbecause it allows for printhead conditions to be selectively ignored.This eliminates the need for a print shop operator to manuallyre-initiate printing of a job each time a jetout is detected that haslow or no impact on a print job. This in turn reduces paper waste byenabling printing to continue, even when printhead conditions wouldotherwise halt printing and require reprint of a print job.

In step 210, data indicating whether regions along the width of theprint media are bypassable is stored by controller 134 in memory 133. Inone embodiment, this comprises populating a table with the data for eachregion, and applying a flag in the table to each region that isbypassable. In further embodiments, the flagging is performed on agranular basis. That is, a printhead condition at a specific locationwithin a printhead 114 (e.g., along a location corresponding with awidth of ten to fifteen nozzles at a printhead, or more) may result in aflag being assigned to that specific location, instead of the entireregion. In further embodiments, bypass flags may be assigned to entirecolor planes/channels (e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow, and key black),and/or bypass flags may be assigned to specific color planes within aregion. For example, a bypass flag may be assigned to a widthwise regionthat receives marks from C, M, Y, and K printheads, and may be set tobypass printhead conditions for all of the printheads, any combinationof colors set down by the printheads (e.g., to bypass C but not K), etc.

With the initialization phase completed, print review system 100includes data indicating which regions of the print media (correspondingwith specific printheads) are flagged as bypassable. Processingtherefore proceeds to an operation phase, wherein printing continuesand/or additional test patterns are generated. During the operationphase, the data created in the initialization phase may be utilized toselectively bypass determination and/or reporting of printheadconditions.

In step 212, image capture device 132 captures one or more images of(e.g., scans) marked print media. In one embodiment, image capturedevice 132 scans test patterns at the marked print media to generate theimages in real-time as printing occurs at printer 110. In furtherembodiments, image capture device 132 performs a scan at the start of aprint job, dynamically in response to detecting the start of a printjob, the passage of a certain number of pages of content or a new testpattern, or in response to triggering instructions from a printcontroller of the printer 110. Images generated by the image capturedevice 132 are stored in memory for analysis by controller 134 or othercomponents. The quality and type of scanning performed may beimplemented in a similar manner to step 202.

In step 214, the controller 134 determines printhead conditions alongthe width of the marked print media. This may be performed in a similarmanner to step 204, or may be performed by reading data stored in memory133 indicating printhead conditions detected by another device orcomponent. The data describing bypassable regions can be utilized tosuppress analysis of specific regions along the width of the printmedia. This provides a technical benefit by reducing load on the imagecapture device 132 and/or controller 134 as printing continues.

If analysis suppression is activated in step 216, then print reviewdevice 130 foregoes determination of printhead conditions in regionsthat have been flagged in step 218. Thus, controller 134 (or any othercomponent performing image analysis) may bypass analysis heuristicswithin the flagged regions, which saves processing power at thecontroller 134. In a further embodiment, image capture device 132selectively prevents acquisition of images within regions that have beenflagged, or omits image data for flagged regions.

In step 220, each determined printhead condition is associated with acorresponding region. Step 220 may be performed in a manner such that itis integrated with steps 214-218. That is, in many embodiments, the actof associating printhead conditions with specific regions may beperformed at the time the printhead conditions are detected. Step 220may be performed in a manner similar to step 206 above.

In step 222, the controller 134 generates a report with notifications ofdetermined printhead conditions. Different notifications may be preparedfor different printhead conditions (e.g., defects) discovered thetechniques discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/712,985,based on the location and type of printhead conditions detected. Thereport may also include any combination of the following: printheadcondition type, printhead condition location, printhead associated withthe printhead condition, nozzle associated with the printhead condition,region associated with the printhead condition, associated color planes,printer status, system settings, notifications and/or currently flaggedregions. The report may be in the form of signals, text data and/orgraphic data. The report may be stored in memory 134 or transmitted.

In step 224, controller 134 determines whether reporting suppression isactivated. Reporting suppression is an alternative to analysissuppression in step 216. Reporting suppression enables printheadconditions that have already been detected to be omitted from generatedreports. If reporting suppression is activated, in step 226 controller134 suppresses notifications from the report. Specifically, controller134 suppresses notifications of printhead conditions within regions thathave been flagged. This reduces visual clutter for a print shop operatorreading the report.

In one embodiment the controller 134 generates a GUI that presents thereport via the display 136. In a further embodiment, controller 134 isconfigured to generate multiple reports in real-time at the GUI 140 asthe printer 110 marks the print media. The reports are generated basedon input from image capture device 132 as the image capture device 132scans the print media in real-time during printing. Performing theseoperations in real-time provides a technical benefit by enabling a printshop operator to immediately identify and rectify issues that may impactprint quality for a print job.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a print shop 300 in an illustrativeembodiment.

Specifically, FIG. 3 illustrates a print shop environment in which printmedia may be reviewed. According to FIG. 3, a print server 304 at theprint shop 300 receives print jobs from one or more client devices 302(e.g., via a network 303 such as the Internet). The print jobs maycomprise print data accompanied by a job ticket. The print server 304schedules the print jobs for printing at one or more printers 310. Toinitiate printing of an individual print job, print server 304 transmitsthe print job to a printer 310. A print controller 312 at the printer310 processes (e.g., rasterizes) the print data for the job inaccordance with a job ticket for the print job, and generatesinstructions for a marking engine 314 at the printer 310. The markingengine 314 receives a web 316 of print media 308 from a unwinder 306,and marks the web 316 using printheads 315 which apply ink or anothermarking material (e.g., fluids, liquids, powders, etc. that are suitablefor printing) to the web 316. Portions of the web 316 that have beenmarked advance downstream in a web direction to print review device 330.As these portions of the web 316 pass by scanner 332, the scanner 332acquires images of the web 316. These images may be acquired each time atest pattern is recognized, periodically as new test patterns pass thescanner 332, or continuously in real-time. The portions of the web 316advance to a cutter 340, via roller 318. The cutter 340 cuts theportions into pages 319 for stacking into a tray 350. In anotherembodiment, the portions of the web 316 exit the scanner 332 and advancetowards a rewinder device that replaces cutter 340 (e.g., a roll-to-rollconfiguration).

Images acquired via scanner 332 are accessed by controller 334, whichreviews the images in order to detect notifications related to theprinting process. In this embodiment, controller 334 is coupled forcommunication with print controller 312 of printer 310, network 303and/or print server 304. In such an embodiment, the controller 334 isconfigured to detect additional notifications based on communicationswith a print controller 312 of the printer, and include the additionalnotifications in a GUI. Examples of such notifications include a statusof the printer 310 itself (e.g., pertaining to the existence of neededfirmware upgrades, paper jam issues, etc.). In this embodiment, scanner332 also provides notifications that are not directly related to theprint job. For example, scanner 332 may report that a camera at thescanner 332 has stopped functioning, that the scanner 332 was unable tolocate a test pattern on the web 316, etc.

In one embodiment, controller 334 combines the various receivednotifications together for presentation at a GUI via display 336.Controller 334 also dynamically suppresses and/or bypasses the detectionand/or reporting of printhead conditions, based on internal logic.Notifications of printhead conditions may then be reviewed via inputdevice 338 (e.g., a keyboard and mouse, custom set of input buttons,touchscreen, etc.).

FIG. 4 depicts a marking engine 402 applying test patterns 430 and 440to a web 316 of print media in an illustrative embodiment. In thisembodiment, test patterns 430 and 440 include bands 432 and 442 forcolor planes of Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y), and Key Black (K).The bands 432 and 442 are generated via the operation of marking engine402. Specifically, one or more arrays 410 of printheads 412 for colorplanes 416 operate nozzles 414 to eject ink or another marking materialonto web 316 of print media. Printheads 412 and/or nozzle 414 may beassigned to color planes/channels (e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow, keyblack, protector coating, clear, etc.) to eject the correspondingmarking materials (e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow, key black, protectorcoating, clear, etc.). In this embodiment, the printheads 412 occupyregions 420 that are fixed along a width of the web 316 of print media.That is, each region 420 represents a portion of the width of the web316 that is occupied by a specific printhead 412. In one embodiment, theregions 420 comprise locations 422, which each correspond with agrouping of ten to fifteen (or more) nozzles 414, however, this numbermay vary depending on the DPI of the printer and/or the scanner. Thetest patterns depicted in FIG. 4 may facilitate the detection ofjetouts, misalignments, and/or other printhead conditions, and may beprinted regularly at the start of each print job, after every page,after a predefined linear distance along web 316, etc.

With an understanding of the test patterns provided in FIG. 4,discussion moves to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 depicts an image of test patternsacquired by a scanner imaging a web of print media in an illustrativeembodiment. Specifically, in FIG. 5, a window 500 presented via adisplay 136 depicts an image 520 of the test patterns. In thisembodiment, bypass regions 510, which occupy all vertical positions(e.g., a column) along the image 520, are defined in order to suppressthe analysis and/or reporting of printhead conditions in those regions.Each bypass region 510 corresponds with the one or more regions 420 inFIG. 4. In this embodiment, a bypass region 530 is also depicted. Bypassregion 530 is utilized to suppress analysis and/or reporting ofprinthead conditions within a predefined two-dimensional portion of theimage 520 (e.g., a portion of image 520 that does not encompass theentirety of the vertical dimension of the image 520). This enablessuppression of reporting and/or analysis of test pattern 430, withoutdoing the same to test pattern 440. A further bypass region 540, whichis restricted to a single color plane (in this case, the color plane forC) is also depicted. Such a bypass region may be beneficial when a colorplane is not utilized for a print job, or is utilized to a much lesserdegree (e.g., less than half as much) as other color planes. Each of thebypass regions may correspond to combinations of one or more colorplanes, vertical positions along the image 520 and/or two dimensionalportions of image 520.

Window 500 may be utilized by a print shop operator to determine whichregions have been bypassed, and in some embodiments may be utilized by aprint shop operator to manually flag (e.g., select) specific regions asbypassable. This may be accomplished by the operator clicking anddragging portions of image 520 to add new bypass regions 510, byadjusting the positions of the bypass regions 510, etc.

FIG. 6 depicts a Graphical User Interface (GUI) 600 for reviewingprinthead conditions in an illustrative embodiment. In this embodimentshown in FIG. 4, the GUI 600 is formatted according to Hypertext MarkupLanguage (HTML) in combination with Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) data inorder to present a variety of elements reporting the status of a printjob. The GUI 600 accesses data stored in memory that indicates eachprinthead condition, as well as the region and/or location, andgraphically presents this information overlaid on top of an imageacquired by scanning print media. That is, GUI 600 indicates each regionas a two-dimensional area on an image of a test pattern. For thepurposes of this embodiment, the primary GUI element comprises printerstatus regions 640 and 650. Each of these printer status regions 640 and650 is subdivided into color planes 652. The printer status regions 640and 650 indicate, on a printhead-by-printhead basis (or in someembodiments, a nozzle-by-nozzle basis), the printhead conditionsexperienced by each printhead of a printer. For example, printer statusregions 640 and 650 may indicate the location of printheads that areexperiencing jetout conditions. In this embodiment, fully operationalprintheads are indicated with symbols 644 and 654, while printheadsexperiencing a jetout at one or more nozzles are indicated with symbols646 and 656, and printheads experiencing low ink conditions areindicated with symbols 648 and 658. This graphical presentation ofprinthead conditions allows a technician at the print shop to rapidlyand intuitively locate printheads and/or nozzles that are experiencingissues at a printer 110.

GUI 600 also includes a carousel 630. Carousel 630 depicts notificationsthat are relevant to printer 110 and/or print review device 130. Forexample, notifications at carousel 630 may indicate the availability offirmware updates, the existence of calibration issues, etc.

The elements of the GUI further include a printer status section 610,which reports the current status of a printer 110 as indicated by aprint controller of the printer 110, or a print server. A settingssection 620 indicates settings for the print review device 130. Thesettings section 620 includes an indication of a number of toleratedjet-outs allowed at printheads of the printer 110 before an error isindicated or printing is halted. The settings section 620 also indicatesa maximum number of cleaning attempts to perform on a printhead beforereporting a jetout issue, and whether or not printheads are cleanedprior to the start of a print job. In this embodiment, the number ofcleanings that are attempted before a printhead is reported as notcleaned is selectable by the user for when the printer prepares toprint, while the number of attempts to clean before identifying aprinthead as failed is separate. In one embodiment, five consecutivecleaning attempts are allowed to recover a specific nozzle. In a furtherembodiment, detected printhead failures are used to define bypassedregions.

Examples

In the following examples, additional processes, systems, and methodsare described in the context of a print shop that performs dynamicreview of printhead conditions.

Embodiments disclosed herein can take the form of software, hardware,firmware, or various combinations thereof. In one particular embodiment,software is used to direct a processing system of print review system100 to perform the various operations disclosed herein. FIG. 7illustrates a processing system 700 operable to execute a computerreadable medium embodying programmed instructions to perform desiredfunctions in an illustrative embodiment. Processing system 700 isoperable to perform the above operations by executing programmedinstructions tangibly embodied on computer readable storage medium 712.In this regard, embodiments of the invention can take the form of acomputer program accessible via computer-readable medium 712 providingprogram code for use by a computer or any other instruction executionsystem. For the purposes of this description, computer readable storagemedium 712 can be anything that can contain or store the program for useby the computer.

Computer readable storage medium 712 can be an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor device. Examples ofcomputer readable storage medium 712 include a solid state memory, amagnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory(RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk, and an opticaldisk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read onlymemory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W), and DVD.

Processing system 700, being suitable for storing and/or executing theprogram code, includes at least one processor 702 coupled to program anddata memory 704 through a system bus 750. Program and data memory 704can include local memory employed during actual execution of the programcode, bulk storage, and cache memories that provide temporary storage ofat least some program code and/or data in order to reduce the number oftimes the code and/or data are retrieved from bulk storage duringexecution.

Input/output or I/O devices 706 (including but not limited to keyboards,displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled either directly orthrough intervening I/O controllers. Network adapter interfaces 708 mayalso be integrated with the system to enable processing system 700 tobecome coupled to other data processing systems or storage devicesthrough intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modems,IBM Channel attachments, SCSI, Fibre Channel, and Ethernet cards arejust a few of the currently available types of network or host interfaceadapters. Display device interface 710 may be integrated with the systemto interface to one or more display devices, such as printing systemsand screens for presentation of data generated by processor 702.

Although specific embodiments were described herein, the scope of theinvention is not limited to those specific embodiments. The scope of theinvention is defined by the following claims and any equivalentsthereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a print review device comprising: a memory that stores data which indicates whether regions along a width of print media marked by a printer are flagged as bypassable; and a controller configured to determine printhead conditions along the width of the print media, associate each printhead condition with a corresponding region, and to generate a report with notifications of printhead conditions within each region that has not been flagged, while suppressing notifications of printhead conditions within regions that have been flagged.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein: the print review device further comprises an image capture device configured to iteratively capture images in real-time as the printer prints; and the controller is configured to generate reports in real-time as the printer prints.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein: the controller is configured to generate reports for a printer that prints each of multiple color planes.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein: regions that are flagged as bypassable cause the printer to forego global error handling settings for the printer in that region.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein: the controller generates a user interface configured to indicate each region as a two dimensional area on an image of the test pattern.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein: printhead conditions are associated by the controller with locations having a width of at least ten nozzles at a printhead of the printer.
 7. The system of claim 1 wherein: each of the printhead conditions is associated with a region based on a mapping of a location of that printhead condition to a region.
 8. The system of claim 1 further comprising: the printer, the printer being configured to mark the print media.
 9. A method comprising: storing data which indicates whether regions along a width of print media marked by a printer are flagged as bypassable; determining printhead conditions along the width of the print media; associating each printhead condition with a corresponding region; and generating a report with notifications of printhead conditions within each region that has not been flagged, while suppressing notifications of printhead conditions within regions that have been flagged.
 10. The method of claim 9 further comprising: iteratively capturing images of the print media in real-time as the printer prints, wherein generate the report is performed in real-time as the printer prints.
 11. The method of claim 9 further comprising: generating reports for a printer that prints each of multiple color planes.
 12. The method of claim 9 wherein: foregoing global error handling settings at a printer that marks the print media in regions that have been flagged.
 13. The method of claim 9 wherein: the controller generates a user interface configured to indicate each region as a two dimensional area on an image of the test pattern.
 14. The method of claim 9 further comprising: associating printhead conditions locations having a width of at least ten nozzles at a printhead of the printer.
 15. The method of claim 9 further comprising: marking the print media via the printer.
 16. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying programmed instructions which, when executed by a processor, are operable for performing a method comprising: storing data which indicates whether regions along a width of print media marked by a printer are flagged as bypassable; determining printhead conditions along the width of the print media; associating each printhead condition with a corresponding region; and generating a report with notifications of printhead conditions within each region that has not been flagged, while suppressing notifications of printhead conditions within regions that have been flagged.
 17. The medium of claim 16 wherein the method further comprises: iteratively capturing images of the print media in real-time as the printer prints, wherein generate the report is performed in real-time as the printer prints.
 18. The medium of claim 16 wherein the method further comprises: generating reports for a printer that prints each of multiple color planes.
 19. The medium of claim 16 wherein: foregoing global error handling settings at a printer that marks the print media in regions that have been flagged.
 20. The medium of claim 16 wherein: each of the printhead conditions is associated with a region based on a mapping of a location of that printhead condition to a region. 